wnn@ornl.gov (Wolfgang N. Naegeli) (12/19/90)
Is there any Mac software designed for use by two or three year old children (under supervision)? ************************************************************** Wolfgang N. Naegeli Internet: wnn@ornl.gov Bitnet: wnn@ornlstc Phone: 615-574-6143 Fax: 615-574-6141 (MacFax) Snail: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6206 **************************************************************
scavo@cie.uoregon.edu (Tom Scavo) (12/19/90)
In article <1990Dec18.201133.9600@cs.utk.edu> wnn@ornl.gov (Wolfgang N. Naegeli) writes: >Is there any Mac software designed for use by two or three year old >children (under supervision)? My three-year-old's favorite program is called Kid Pix, written by Craig Hickman. It's a paint program with all kinds of neat features (including sound) that Brian (my three-year-old) just loves. I understand the program is going to be distributed by Broderbund (sp?), but I'm not sure if it's available yet. It may still be in beta test. My wife is one of Craig's students at UofO where he teaches courses in Fine and Applied Arts...that's how we got a hold of it. The only "supervision" we find necessary around here is that MultiFinder be disabled. You have no idea how much havoc a kid can wreak using MultiFinder! Other than that, Brian and Kid Pix do their thing for an hour at a crack. Great program, highly recommended (right, Brian?). Tom Scavo scavo@cie.uoregon.edu
paul@u02.svl.cdc.com (Paul Kohlmiller) (12/20/90)
Young kids might like Kids Time from Great Wave Software. This company makes
other programs but they maybe aimed at 5 years old and up.
Kids Time has a dot-to-dot game in it that is very forgiving but I think it
still requires a mouse click.
Disabling MFinder is a good idea but might not be sufficient to eliminate the
mayhem that can be caused. Some games have problems with screen savers which
can be activated by putting the mouse into a designated corner (you can disable
this feature I think).
I work for the Special Technology Center which is a non-profit that (among
other things) looks for good software for kids particularly kids with special
needs. I think it is true that at 3 years old most of the interesting stuff is
on the Apple2. My son is now 10 and there is more interesting stuff on the Mac
for his age. I may be buying an LC real soon now (if I can find any).
Paul Kohlmiller
standard disclaimers
--
// Paul H. Kohlmiller // "Cybers, Macs and Mips" //
// Control Data Corporation // Internet: paul@robin.svl.cdc.com //
// All comments are strictly // America Online: Paul CDC //
// my own. // Compuserve: 71170,2064 // rmh@apple.com (Rick Holzgrafe) (12/20/90)
In article <1990Dec18.201133.9600@cs.utk.edu> wnn@ornl.gov (Wolfgang N. Naegeli) writes: > Is there any Mac software designed for use by two or three year old > children (under supervision)? Try any of Amanda Goodenough's HyperCard story stacks. These include "Inigo Gets Out" and the rest of the Inigo series, and the "My Faithful Camel" stories. Inexpensive and highly recommended. I think they're published by a company named "Voyager" - my copies are at home and my memory's leaky, sorry. ========================================================================== Rick Holzgrafe | {sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual}!apple!rmh Software Engineer | AppleLink HOLZGRAFE1 rmh@apple.com Apple Computer, Inc. | "All opinions expressed are mine, and do 20525 Mariani Ave. MS: 3-PK | not necessarily represent those of my Cupertino, CA 95014 | employer, Apple Computer Inc."
phil@waikato.ac.nz (12/20/90)
In article <1990Dec18.201133.9600@cs.utk.edu>, wnn@ornl.gov (Wolfgang N. Naegeli) writes: > Is there any Mac software designed for use by two or three year old > children (under supervision)? > I made a simple HyperCard Stack which contained pictures of animals, culled from various clip art collection I have access to, and sounds that the animals make, from PD sources. When the mouse was moved over an animal, its name came up. When the mouse button was clicked over an animal, it made its sound. My (at the time) 2 year old loved it. I found it necessary to partially disable Quit, so that files couldn't be moved around on the desktop and have their names changed to things like "/". -- Phil Etheridge (phil@waikato.ac.nz) /\ /\ -+-,--, .--, ._ Computer Services/Mathematics & Statistics / \/ \ / /--< /-- / University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ. / \/ /__.) \_ /
dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek) (12/21/90)
In article <11591@goofy.Apple.COM> rmh@apple.com (Rick Holzgrafe) writes: >In article <1990Dec18.201133.9600@cs.utk.edu> wnn@ornl.gov (Wolfgang N. >Naegeli) writes: >> Is there any Mac software designed for use by two or three year old >> children (under supervision)? > >Try any of Amanda Goodenough's HyperCard story stacks. These include >"Inigo Gets Out" and the rest of the Inigo series, and the "My Faithful >Camel" stories. Inexpensive and highly recommended. I think they're >published by a company named "Voyager" - my copies are at home and my >memory's leaky, sorry. While I like Inigo, there just isn't very much of it. Along the same lines, but much bigger, are Manhole and Cosmic Osmo, by (I think) ActiVision. Both use HyperCard and hide the menu bar, so they're relatively safe for children to use (under Finder). Both have animation and graphics. Manhole was their first and is good; Cosmic Osmo is their second, and is bigger and IMHO significantly better. Be warned that Cosmic Osmo ties up about 4 Meg on your hard disk. When I only had 20 Meg, this was a problem. Best of all is Cosmic Osmo on a CD-ROM, which I bought recently for my daughter's birthday. It's 100 Meg, has about twice as many places to explore as the hard disk version, maybe twice as many animated sequences (I'm not sure), and great sound. However, if you don't have a CD-ROM player, the hard disk version is still great. Highly recommended. I have no connection, etc.--just a satisfied user. -- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com) -- Unisys Corp. / Paoli Research Center / PO Box 517 / Paoli PA 19301 -- Any resemblance between my opinions and those of my employer is improbable. < You can put a mouse on an IBM. And you can put a radio on a motorcycle. >
smargari@nmsu.edu (Susan Margarit) (12/21/90)
The most important piece of software is a shareware program called GuardDog. It keeps our 3yr old from deleting every folder on disk. Our kid has done very well with Alphabet Blocks, Manhole and Cosmic Osmo. The only problem is that you will play them so much that you will find yourself bleeding from the ears. The latter two packages hold up much longer for adults than Alphabet Blocks.